Rey settled herself into Han Solo's chair, the captain's seat while Chewbacca sat where he was most comfortable in the co-pilots. Chewbacca always sat in the co-pilot's chair, unless flying with someone incompetent; this was Chewie's place and where he felt at home. Within the cockpit sat silently behind them were Poe and Finn. Chewie knew everything that had occurred between Rey and Ben on Ahch-To, and he'd been the one to orbit her towards the Supremacy to meet him, he didn't understand it, he didn't need to. He was apathetic about what Rey had said at the meeting, the others seated behind them, however, were making their feelings clear with their lack of conversation. As they entered lightspeed having checked with the onboard computer that they were heading to the Middian System, Poe, and Finn exited the cockpit. After testing everything was as it should be placing a hand on Chewbacca's shoulder, Rey followed them. The issue needed to be dealt with before they landed.

"Poe, Fin..," she started, but Poe raised his hands to get her to stop. Hands-on his hips, he looked down at the floor of the falcon and sighed.

"Just start from the beginning." Poe's brow was furrowed with concern; he wanted to understand, so Rey started at the beginning. Rey told them everything that had happened between herself and Ben from the moment he'd kidnapped her on Takodana when the bond between them had been created. How Kylo had helped her when Luke hadn't, how she'd gone to him on the Supremacy after they'd touched hands through the bond and how he'd killed Snoke then offered her his hand to lead the galaxy with him. Rey told them about Kef-Bir and the fight and the visions of the past they'd seen together, everything he'd said on the Finalizer. There were things she left out, her evil inheritance and her using Force lightning; she wasn't ready for anyone else to know this yet; for now just Ben and Luke knowing were more than enough.

"Ok, but what is it? I don't get it?" Finn said innocently breaking the tension and causing all three to smile.

"I honestly don't know. Even Master Luke didn't understand," Rey shrugged, "I guess time will tell."

Poe stepped towards her, pointing a slightly accusing finger towards her, like a parent reprimanding their child, "No more secrets, ok?"

Rey knew she was going to lie before she even spoke, "Ok."

"We're in this together," Finn said as the three embraced and Rey felt relief at being one with her chosen family as it should be once more, confident that on Pasaana, they would get some answers.

The Falcon jumped out of lightspeed outside of Pasaana's system. Pasaana was a yellow orb in a sea of darkness on the outskirts of the galaxy.

"Let's look for some kind of settlement, then go from there," Poe said, looking out the window at what appeared to be a vast desert.

"Sand, brilliant, why is it always sand!" Finn exclaimed.

Chewie landed the Falcon near a canyon of rock in which a mass of native inhabitants congregated. The group exited the Falcon with C-3P0 and Finn moaning about sand. The planet was hot, and a sand-filled wind blew about them much to Finn and C-3P0's dismay. Sand didn't bother Rey and nor did the scorching heat. She had learnt through years of practise how to walk through the challenging landscape of Jakku with its soft sand, its raging temperatures, its surprise sinkholes and its dunes. The canyon they headed towards was a valley bowl with mountainous ragged rock rising high all around it. The rock was coloured in layers from dark browns to almost white, scorched light in the sun; once this planet must have had lush land and rivers to form such landscapes and valleys. As the group rounded a corner, they were able to see within the bowl of the canyon. Here a vast gathering of natives appeared to be in the midst of a celebration. Brightly coloured robed figures appeared to be dancing kicking up dust, colourful explosions of yellow, orange and green were being blasted into the air. Beautiful fabric kites flew above them like serene creatures in flight. Wooden structures stood within the congregation with colourful fabric ribbons and decorative displays. This planet was nothing like Jakku, hardship and starvation had created a dull, monotonous existence for all that lived there. The colour, the fabric kites reminded Rey of the flags at Maz's castle on Takodana.

Finn could not keep the excitement from his face.

"Wow, would you look at that?"

"Come on, let's see if we can find who we need to talk to," Poe said, herding the group towards the festival of colour before them.

The inhabitants of this planet appeared to be a mix of human and sentient, the sentients of which were humanoid but with thick skin with a face that rounded at the top around two bulbous eyes and then elongated into a two-pronged fork. The fork was two trunks almost like pincers, they moved independently, curled up or resting down. Able to hold things like a tactile hand might. Human and sentient alike were dressed in wonderous colours- red, orange, pink and yellow. Some wore blue, and all wore string and beaded colourful jewellery. As the group walked amongst the crowd, some of the native beings provided them with some vibrant cloth or draped a rustic necklace about their neck. A child amongst these strange aliens provided Rey with such a necklace, constructed of simple yellow beads and intermingled between them were little wooden figures wrapped in cloth. Rey couldn't help but smile at these people living on a desert planet so like the one she'd grown up on, but unlike Jakku, Pasaana was full of culture and so unaffected by the strife of the rest of the galaxy. The beings were muttering in a language that wasn't familiar to anyone.

"3P0? Any idea what they're saying?" Poe asked the golden protocol droid.

"Their form of communication is very basic, Sir. It's a celebration of some kind to do with their ancestors."

"Well, as long as we aren't about to be sacrificed or something."

Chewie hollered in agreement.

A being in blue walked towards Rey and pointed at the saber on her belt, the sentient's face appeared unnaturally old and wise to Rey, but there was no real way of knowing. It held a staff on which to support itself, and with a series of hand gestures, Rey managed to gather the creature wanted her to follow it.

"I think we should follow," she said to others, and they followed the cloaked figure through the crowd of colour and dust. They walked past the dancers chanting and the exploding plumes of coloured sand. They walked past the mass of gathered aliens towards a series of caves at the base of a nearby canyon. The caped figure gestured inwards, and with a little hesitation, the group entered. Within the cave it was cooler, the darker sandstone sheltering them from both heat and wind. The interior surface of the cave was rippled as though from water. It got darker, and their eyes couldn't adjust to the change, so Rey used her lightsaber as a light source the others crept along with weapons poised; Chewie visibly hunched due to his immense height and the tiny space. The tunnel got darker and narrower.

"I have a bad feeling about this," C-3P0 muttered, BB8 rolling beside him beeped something about being more positive. The alien dressed in blue following behind him muttered something in his native tongue, which no-one understood.

The tunnel started to become brighter and broader ahead of them as they walked a little further the tunnel became a cave again, deep within the canyon rock, large and illuminated with the same orange-red rippled surface. The cave was a home, a simple home. Soft glowing lights were on the wall; ancient books were upon a makeshift shelf, an area for cooking, a raised area held sleeping quarters. In the centre of the room was a seating area with a multicoloured rug made of rags and ribbons, similar to the beautiful coloured fabric kites and tents they'd left outside, with similarly upholstered cushions. Next to this seating area was a pebble surrounded circular fire with a small kettle hung over it on a chain from a makeshift tripod. Sitting at a table was a figure dressed in a green robe. The blue figured Aki Aki who'd brought them here stepped forward to speak with the robed figure in green. The figure shifted its head to listen, then turned around. Rey stood with her lightsaber, Poe and Finn behind her, she sensed no reason to fear, but one could never be too careful. The green-robed Aki Aki was like the others they'd witnessed, a face that spoke of infinite wisdom and age. It stood and walked towards them. As a race, they were tall and majestic, like the others this one's skin was greyish-brown and the dual trunks lay loosely down on its robes. Its half-lidded eyes with dark thick lashes searched each of their faces interestedly before speaking in a deep, dusty voice from beneath its trunks.

"You're looking for someone?" the alien spoke in basic.

It appeared C-3P0 was not going to be required to interpret after all, not that he'd been able to so far.

"Yes, Master Skywalker said I might find answers here, from a Shaman, a Gatherer," Rey stated.

The creature before Rey nodded.

"Found someone you have, I am Shaman Suncas."

The Shaman motioned to them and made his way to the floor upon the rug and cushions where it sat, offering them some sort of warmed drink infused with local plants and spices.

"To what do you need answers?" Suncas asked.

Rey looked to the others who nodded their approval before reaching round to her backpack and removing from it the pyramidal Holocron. Rey placed the artefact on the colourful fabric rug on which they sat. The Shaman looked at it and from beneath his long sleeves reached out a strange three-fingered hand, closing his bulbous eyes. He did not need to do this long before drawing his hand back beneath his robe and sighing heavily.

"Darth Sidious," Suncas said, shaking his head sadly. "I've been alive for a long time- millenniums. Throughout that time, I've seen every war fought between the light and the dark; Jedi and Sith. It's the same fight it's always been but Palpatine, Darth Sidious was a being, the likes of which the galaxy had never seen. An unnatural evil manipulator of the Force. The most powerful Sith that ever existed, more powerful than his master Plagueis and even Darth Bane. Long before he became Emperor Palpatine, he had been manipulating a war to bring about the abolishment of the Senate. He created a clone army to do his bidding and without the Jedi ever fully suspecting he wiped them out plunging our galaxy into centuries-long darkness. We cannot know the depth of depravity that he was capable of."

Rey knew Palpatine's depravity. He'd created her, but she would not become his weapon. Focus on what you need answers to, she told herself. Don't get distracted.

"A dark acolyte controls the First Order, Palpatine's acolyte. The First Order has been searching planets for this artefact, but that may not be the only thing they were looking for." Rey told Suncas, "They've been to Malachor and each of the moons of Endor."

"Malachor!" Suncas exclaimed his eyes widening in horror.

"Malachor is a Sith planet on which there was once a powerful weapon; a weapon that could have destroyed the entire galaxy, but it was destroyed, but there is another on Mustafar, and that one I believe is intact, hidden beneath Vader's fortress. The Death Star and Starkiller Base were monstrous constructions of destruction, but they are nothing compared to the destructive power of the Sith temples. The only thing the First Order and Palpatine require is this Holocron. They could destroy everything, all life!"

A grievous silence fell over the cave.

"What do we do?" Poe spoke now.

"This must be destroyed. Darth Sidious must not be allowed to acquire it. He must not be allowed to rise." Suncas looked intently at each of them, "but none of you can do it. You are all of the light. Only a dark user may open this to destroy it."

Rey had the solution to that instantly.

"Can this be used to stop Palpatine rising, being fully resurrected?"

"We cannot know the information within until it is opened. Who knows what dark secrets Sidious was hiding. The solution to his downfall may be contained within; it may not."

Rey looked at the others.

"We need Ben." She could see the disapproving and annoyed looks on all their faces. Turning back to Suncas, she asked, "If we open it, can you help us to destroy it."

The Shaman shrugged, his trunks curled up towards his face.

"Difficult to say, impossible to know."

Rey shifted to stand so that she could go outside and open her bond with Ben, ask for his help away from prying and condemning eyes, but as she did Suncas reached out and took her hand.

"Who are you, child?"

Rey didn't respond just looked at him silently, trying to still her beating heart praying this Shaman couldn't see the truth of her lineage, her connection to Sidious.

"This is Rey. She's the Last Jedi," Finn answered proudly from behind her, it made her smile despite herself, reminding her how much she loved her friends, her family.

Suncas peered at her with those lined eyes, that creased grey face. Rey imagined he didn't need his eyes to see the nature of a person at their core. He could feel it, sense it.

"No. Not the last Jedi. You, my child, are something else, something powerful."